Literature / Star Wars: Tarkin

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Five standard years have passed since Darth Sidious proclaimed himself galactic Emperor. The brutal Clone Wars are a memory, and the Emperorís apprentice, Darth Vader, has succeeded in hunting down most of the Jedi who survived dreaded Order 66. On Coruscant a servile Senate applauds the Emperorís every decree, and the populations of the Core Worlds bask in a sense of renewed prosperity.

In the Outer Rim, meanwhile, the myriad species of former Separatist worlds find themselves no better off than they were before the civil war. Stripped of weaponry and resources, they have been left to fend for themselves in an Empire that has largely turned its back on them.

Where resentment has boiled over into acts of sedition, the Empire has been quick to mete out punishment. But as confident as he is in his own and Vaderís dark side powers, the Emperor understands that only a supreme military, overseen by a commander with the will to be as merciless as he is, can secure an Empire that will endure for a thousand generations ...

Tarkin is a Star Wars Expanded Universe novel by James Luceno which focuses on the life of Grand Moff Wilhuff Tarkin and shows the workings of the Imperial Court and Coruscant after the rise of the Galactic Empire.

It is the second novel released following the Continuity Reboot by Disney. With Luceno as the writer, many fans' expectations that the book would recanonize many aspects of the Legends EU were proved true, with Tarkin already getting his first name back among other things.

At a remote outpost in the Outer Rim, Governor Wilhuff Tarkin is lamenting the slow progress on the Death Star, still in its early stages. One day, the base is suddenly and expertly attacked in a suicidal strike. He quickly travels to Coruscant to consult with the Imperial Court and the military intelligence agencies, to find who attacked him and to keep them from slowing the project again.

It was released on November 4, 2014.

On October 6, 2015, Del Rey published The Rise of the Empire, a compilation of A New Dawn, Tarkin and three original short stories.

The novel contains the following tropes:

Ain't Too Proud to Beg: Faazah, at least where his family is concerned. It works. But only for his family. He, Vader kills.

Badass Longcoat: Tarkin wears one on Sentinel Base, due to the harsh climate.

Broad Strokes: Palpatine's thoughts about his old master, Darth Plagueis, indicate that some of (if not all of) the events of the Darth Plagueis novel are canon. Then 11-4D, Plagueis's droid from same novel, makes an appearance, serving as even more important evidence to this train of thought. Luceno also references his earlier Prequel novels Cloak Of Deception and Dark LordóThe Rise of Darth Vader, showing that these plots still happened, more or less.

Canon Immigrant: The book introduces a number of minor characters from the old Expanded Universe into the new canon.

Vice Admiral Screed, a character of the Legends continuity, is reintroduced back into the mainstream canon.

Sate Pestage is also brought back in, though (as of this book) he has taken a demotion. In Legends, he was the Grand Vizier, while now he's a senior advisor and Mas Amedda serves as Grand Vizier. Several other advisors on the Imperial Ruling Council, including Ars Dangor, Kren Blista-Vanee, and Janus Greejatus (who were named in material related to Return of the Jedi) also appear.

Armand Isard is reintroduced as well, as the director of COMPNOR.

Mention and use is made of Interdictor cruisersnote those ships with four huge globes in their primary hull, vessels that the Empire uses to prevent ships from fleeing to hyperspace. In addition, Victory-class Star Destroyers make an appearance, along with other Star Destroyer classes that have been mentioned in Legends. The Escort Carrier from TIE Fighter is also brought back, via a rather detailed description that exactly matches the Legends version of the ship.

Cool Ship: The Carrion Spike, and, to a lesser extent, the Predator. The Predator in particular is so cool its owner Faazah refuses to part with it—until Vader takes his family hostage and forces him to (in a manner of speaking) fork over the keys.

A Day in the Limelight: For Tarkin, showing his rise through the Empire's ranks to become commander of the Death Star.

Deadly Decadent Court: The Imperial Court is shown to be one in full swing, as encouraged by the Emperor. The Imperial Ruling Council, Moffs, the military joint chiefs, and the heads of the various intelligence agencies all compete against each other for influence, power, and the Emperor's favor.

Tarkin's homeworld of Eriadu is very dangerous outside of the colonized regions, full of deadly animals and hazardous environments. The deadliest part of the world, the Carrion Plateau, is owned by the Tarkin family. Members of the Tarkin family go the Carrion Plateau to undergo a Rite of Passage that teaches them how to hunt, kill, and survive in the wild, and doubles as a philosophical lesson about the Tarkins' place in the universe and their ultimate goals, while also building an appreciation for modern technology by showing how harsh life would be without it.

Although not as bad, Sentinel Base near Geonosis is a horrific planet frequently hit by rock storms (!!!) that pelt the Imperial fortress with pebbles, rocks and shards for extremely long periods of time. Going out in one of these storms is essentially a death sentence.

Murkhana is no better, left a polluted hellhole following the end of the Clone Wars, it has an acidic atmosphere and boiling seas, with the beaches frequently plagued by Blob Monsters.

Defiant to the End: Both Teller and Rancit. Rancit in particular flat out tells Vader he won't beg for mercy. The Sith Lord simply responds that even if he didn't it wouldn't change his fate.

Invoked in the scene where Tarkin and his protocol droid are designing the now iconic Imperial officers' uniforms.

When Teller disguises himself as an Imperial officer, Anora Fair jokingly suggests he "turn 'round" so the crew can admire him in his outfit from different angles. He declines.

Evil Mentor: Jova Tarkin serves as one to any Tarkin who goes to the Carrion Plateau, putting them through Training from Hell while ingraining the Tarkin's unique views on life and instilling order.

Floating Head Syndrome: Averted with Tarkin in the foreground of the front cover, but played straight with Vader's mask floating midair in the black background.

Forged Message: Used in an attempt to trick Tarkin into sending the Electrum to defend another Imperial base from being attacked, leaving Sentinel unprotected. He doesn't fall for it, and only pretends to send the Electrum away, laying a trap for the attackers when they arrive thinking Sentinel is unguarded.

Good Is Not Nice: Teller insists that anyone willingly serving the Empire is a legitimate target, including civilians. In particular, he and his team rather callously kill the crew of the Carrion Spike when they swipe it.

This also applies to Tarkin himself during the Clone Wars. In a bit that overlaps with Obviously Evil more than anything else, he has several Separatist scientists tortured and orders the massacre of several people who were sympathetic to Count Dooku.

Hurl It into the Sun: Tarkin deals with Pirate Girl Q'anah, who's been his Worthy Opponent for some time early in his career in the Outlands Region Security Force, by putting her and her entire crew in a cargo container and setting them on course for a star so that they slowly roast to death while their death screams and pleas for mercy are broadcast throughout the sector. It has the added effect of deterring future piracy in his sector because in a nice example of cruel but Pragmatic Villainy, since Tarkin remains in the area the whole time it takes them to die and whenever more of the pirates' comrades come to rescue them, the Outlands' ships destroy them. Rinse and repeat, until eventually the surviving pirates get the idea and stop coming into Tarkin's territory.

Tarkin doesn't like his Imperial military boots because they are uncomfortable. Peter Cushing had the same problem while filming A New Hope, so he wore pink slippers instead whenever his feet were out of the shot.

Tarkin has a flashback to his final meeting with Count Dooku, who's described as an old friend. In the films, they were played by Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee, who were very close friends in real life.

Leave Behind a Pistol: At the end of the novel, Tarkin returns to Eriadu and the Carrion Plateau. There, Teller manages to follow him, but falls into one of Tarkin's animal traps, twisting his ankle. Tarkin leaves Teller's blaster at the mouth of the trap, and says he'll leave his speeder at the edge of the plateau. If Teller is able to reach it, he'll be free to go. Afterwards, Tarkin and Uncle Jova laugh about how unlikely it is he'll survive, although Tarkin is somewhat hopeful that he will so that he can have something to keep him on his toes and to look forward to.

Monument of Humiliation and Defeat: Early in the book, Tarkin arrives at the Emperor's new palace on Coruscant. He is very familiar with it, as it was formerly the temple of the Jedi Order. It still has the five spires, but much has changed and it is now draped in Imperial banners.

The Mole: Vice Admiral Rancit although not for any altruistic reasons. He's just peeved he got passed over for promotion.

Mook Lieutenant: Two of note appear. Tarkin has Imperial officer Commander Cassel on Sentinel Base, and later, Vader has Stormtrooper Sergeant Crest. Crest later becomes an actualMook Lieutenant when Vader promotes him to lieutenant following his successful capture of Faazah's warehouse.

At this point for the galaxy-at-large, Darth Vader has this. No one knows where he came from, with some believing he was an experiment created by the Emperor as a trump card at the end of the Clone Wars; some even believe there are ten back-up Vaders in a lab somewhere. Tarkin, however, strongly believes that Darth Vader and Anakin Skywalker are the same person.

Teller himself has one, at least insofar as the reader is concerned. It's eventually revealed in a big Info Dump near the end.

Subverted. One of Tarkin's theories about Vader's meditation chamber (which he keeps to himself) is that it contains a personal toilet for the Sith Lord.

Also subverted when the Carrion Spike takes battle damage—the toilets are among the non-functioning systems.

Only One Name: Averted - while A New Hope and The Clone Wars only referred to Tarkin by his last name, this story follows the tradition set forth by Legends and reinstates his first name, Wilhuff. The book also reveals the Emperor's full name: Sheev Palpatine.

Pragmatic Villainy: Vader, interestingly. While on Murkhana he prevents a Stormtrooper from shooting someone who threw stuff at the Imperial transport, saying it would start a riot, something they can't afford to deal with. When another Stormtrooper complains that the people on Murkhana don't like them, Vader simply replies: "No one asked them to like to you."

Stormtrooper Sergeant Crest, who's one of the original clones who fought in Vader's 501st Legion. He commits a flub early in the mission, nearly invoking the wrath of the Sith Lord, but he's able to redeem himself and ends the story as a lieutenant.

Tarkin himself, beginning the story as a moff, is named a grand moff at the end as a reward for helping foil Teller and Rancit's rebellious conspiracy.

A Real Man Is a Killer: This is one of the Tarkins' many personal mottos, though not in so many words. When Tarkin makes a vest as a child, Uncle Jova comments that it'll look good with blood on it, and not long afterward forces the boy to disembowel an animal they kill on a hunt.

Reassigned to Antarctica: Played with. For the rest of the Empire, it seemed baffling that Tarkin is sent to what amounts to the ass-end of nowhere. Of course, this is meant to obscure the fact that he's overseeing the development of the Death Star.

The Remnant: Early in the story, Tarkin has to deal with a droid attack from Separatists who seemingly didn't get the memo that the Clone Wars were over.

Rite of Passage: Tarkin underwent one as a boy of eleven. Every dry season for five years, he would accompany his grand-uncle Jova Tarkin and other family members to the dreaded Carrion Plateau, where he was forced to live off the land or die. It was designed to both impart mercilessness and survival skills, as well as teach how much modern technology should be valued, by removing it and forcing the boy to live off of the land, making him appreciate it more when his ordeal was over. This is why, as an adult, Tarkin is so technology-obsessed.

Secret Test of Character: Several times in the lead up to The Clone Wars, Dooku visited then planetary governor Tarkin, trying to recruit him into the Sepratist fold. Each time, Tarkin resisted, maintaining loyalty to Chancellor Palpatine, never knowing that Palpatine himself had directed Dooku to make the offers to test his loyalty.

Sherlock Scan: Tarkin does this to one of his subordinates, Ensign Baz, to determine that he's a spice user.

Shown Their Work: The Galactic Empire has always been modelled after Nazi Germany, but this book goes into a surprisingly faithful amount of depth by showing the Empire's functioning to be very faithful to Nazi Germany's. One example is the chronic Interservice Rivalry and Right Hand vs. Left Hand, done by Palpatine to keep his subordinates fighting amongst themselves and never powerful enough to usurp him, which is exactly how Nazi Germany operated.

State Sec: Amongst other things the book makes canon again is COMPNOR, the Commission for the Preservation of the New Order, which is in charge of internal security via the Imperial Security Bureau, intelligence operations via the Ubiqtorate, along with propaganda and social engineering via the Coalition of Progress.

Thrown Out the Airlock: Vader does this to Rancit, having his Stormtroopers load him into an escape pod and shoot him into outer space. He further decrees that Rancit himself will give the order to fire on his pod as his final act.

Used to Be a Sweet Kid: Our first glimpse of a young Tarkin has him say he would serve food to the Tarkins' non-human servant. His parents swiftly quash that notion and begin instilling the "virtues" of the Tarkin family into him.

Two high-ranking Imperials, Ruling Council member Kren Blista-Vanee and Vice Admiral Rancit, are both well-known for their fondness of opera.

The Emperor is as well, though this has understandably been established in prior media.

Worthy Opponent: Q'anah is this to Tarkin, as least as far as he is concerned, during his time in Outland. Later on, he comes to view Berch Teller in this light, up to and including giving the guy a chance to survive so their battle of wits can continue.

Said verbatim by Vader to Sergeant Crest, a particularly bumbling Stormtrooper. Despite it emphatically being "for the last time," Vader allows him to continue breathing, which seems slightly out of character for the usually failure-intolerant Dark Lord. In fact, Crest ends up getting promoted to lieutenant over the course of the story. Perhaps Lord Vader was feeling somewhat sentimental?

Crest apparently manages to avoid execution by successfully capturing Sugi crime lord Faazah's warehouse, which not only makes Vader spare his life, but promote him. So we'll call what occurs to Crest a last-second reprieve. For the remainder of the book, Lieutenant Crest never fails Vader again and thus it really was "the last time."

Crest having served as clone trooper in specifically the 501st legion, otherwise known as Anakin Skywalker's legion, throughout the clone wars may also have had something to do with the sparing too.

Done far more traditionally with Phoca Soot, a Twi'Lek official who disappoints Vader and gets the standard Force-choke treatment.

You Said You Would Let Them Go: Averted. Tarkin and Vader "persuade" Faazah to give them his personal ship, the Predator, by holding his wife and children hostage. After Faazah complies, he demands reassurance that his family will be spared. He's told they will - but he won't, and is promptly killed.

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